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In commemoration of Philippine Solidarity Week, the BAYAN Peace Mission Northeast delegates have decided to collaborate and publish a 3-part photo blog reflecting on their recent exposure trip. Part 3 is about Manilakbayan or “Journey to Manila”, a people’s mobilization with more than 700 participants marching from the island of Mindanao to the capital city Manila. It aims to bring national attention to the militarization and plunder of the Lumad and Moro ancestral lands. Manilakbayan demands to stop large-scale mining, land-grabbing, and the increasing gross human rights violations by the armed forces of the Philippines against civilians, environmental activists, and community leaders.

Mindanao was full of checkpoints – massive tanks that would point as you passed, half hidden behind the trees. Soldiers flashing lights in your eyes. We had to resist petty urges to take photos and document, to not agitate an already dangerous situation.

But Mindanao was beautiful! So much lush green filling your eyes. Driving in a jeepney passing water and trees and kids playing outside their homes, I thought – they love their community like I love mine. And I saw why this community would resist. There is so much beauty and ancestry to defend. So much community built, and history embedded in the earth and the soil.

The campaign of Manilakbayan was one of the most inspiring moments in the Philippine national democratic movement to me. For a community to migrate from Mindanao to Manila to share their story – to migrate as a demand and a purpose – is incredibly powerful.

There was a moment when we were in Mindanao when a kasama came back from Manilakbayan. Everyone welcomed him home and asked how it was. He responded that it was hard, especially getting hit with the water cannon at the APEC rally.

I was shocked – here was someone who was in the front lines of the rally, strategically placed to protect international protesters, after migrating thousands of miles to bring awareness to #StopLumadKillings. The bravery of my kasamas despite all out war of the state on indigenous peoples was inspiring. I will always carry their stories with me.

I came to the Philippines last November to be a delegate for the International League of People’s Struggle 5th International Assembly. Several months before, I had integrated with a Lumad community in the southernmost island of Mindanao. This specific community was in Surigao del Sur, Caraga near the Alternative Center for Agriculture and Development (ALCADEV), a free high school that experienced the murder of three of its community leaders. These leaders were killed before their entire communities a mere few weeks after I left the Philippines for the first time. Coming back a second time, I didn’t know if I would see my friends and host family again because the Assembly was set to be in Luzon. But it so happened that Manilakbayan 2015, a people’s caravan of rural communities across Mindanao, was in town to confront President Aquino on the escalating spate of human rights abuses happening on their home island. More than 700 people across many different sectors of society traveled the length of the Philippines by ferry, motorcycles, and foot to raise awareness on the militarization and plunder of the mineral-rich Mindanao.

Very soon after arriving on Luzon, I headed over to a cultural solidarity night happening in Liwasang Bonifacio where the “Lakbayanis” (Manilakbayan heroes) were camping out. Liwasang Bonifacio is a city square in front of the Manila Central Post Office that is famous for a bronze statue of Andres Bonifacio in the center of the plaza. As the father of the revolution, Bonifacio’s statue stood proudly behind the colorful “Stop Lumad Killings” stage that showcased beautiful performances from indigenous groups and activists across Manila spreading the message of justice for the Lumad people. Several sets into the show, I caught sight of my former team leader, Nell. I was so happy to see him because I didn’t know if I’d ever see him again and led some of us international delegates to the back of plaza where the Lakbayanis slept. No one was allowed back there without accompaniment and I felt honored. It felt like returning but under much different circumstances.

I saw some ALCADEV students who were part of the cultural team. They complained about the polluted Manila air and said they missed home. I was then happily surprised to see my host father, Jose Campos. I asked about the missus and the rest of his family. “They are okay,” he laughed. “My children have grown up in ‘bakwit’ (evacuation).” Sharing space with these people who I thought I would never see again in my life was unbelievable and short-lived. Nell told me about how much they had suffered in the aftermath of the killings. “I would duck at anything loud, anything like gunshots,” he said with sad eyes.

Later on, I learned that there were Moro communities that were also part of the Manilakbayan. The Moro communities were heavily militarized, possibly even more so than the Lumads. They had experienced years of all-out war under President Estrada and it was resurging again in 2015 in the aftermath of the Mamasapano massacre. Their schools were illegally occupied by the Philippine army and encounters between revolutionary groups and government forces were frequent.

Manilakbayan was an innovative form of protest and people’s mobilization that I’d never experienced anywhere else in my life. The peoples of Mindanao forged solidarity with sectors like youth and students, professionals, church people, and many others throughout the rest of the country. Some friends of mine who had walked the 1,000 kilometers with the toiling masses of Manilakbayan told me that they left a changed person.

May we all carry the example of the Lakbayanis with us as we move forward on this journey as National Democratic activists. May we always carry the interests of the people close to our hearts and link arms with the toiling masses as we march towards national liberation and genuine democracy together.

We stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters from the Philippines, they are suffering from the same kind of impunity that exists in Mexico . We condemn the US government for its disgusting role and continuing support of oppressive regimes like the Mexican and Pilipino government . Ni perdón, Ni olvido: Justicia para México : Justicia para la Filipina, viva la solidaridad!

As a network of civilians who support veterans and service members organizing against U.S. militarism, Civilian-Soldier Alliance members believe in the power of resistance to war and occupation led by those who’ve experienced it. We stand in solidarity with the people’s struggle in the Philippines, a movement for self-determination and liberation that has been on the frontlines against U.S. imperialism since 1899. In commemoration of the Philippine-American War, we honor the legacy of David Fagen, a Black soldier who defected from U.S. troops to join those fighting for the freedom of the Philippines, and recognize all the ways in which those organizing from within and outside empire work to undermine it together. We are inspired by the more just and beautiful world that those in the Philippines fight for, build, and remind us of every day.

On the occasion of Philippines Solidarity Week, New York City Students for Justice in Palestine extends our firmest solidarity to the Filipino people in their struggle for genuine democracy and national liberation. As youth and students in solidarity with Palestine, we are proud to call the revolutionary youth of Anakbayan USA our comrades in the struggle against U.S. imperialist domination and exploitation. The solidarity week is commemorated every February 4th, the anniversary of the Philippine-American War, the first U.S. imperialist war of aggression in Asia. This war marked the early stages of the period of global imperialism, which we have yet to shake off, and remains a crucial point of origin in the genealogy of anti-imperialist resistance in oppressed nations all over the world.The anti-imperialist struggle for national democracy in the Philippines is a struggle that demands the unwavering support of revolutionary and progressive organizations in the U.S and abroad. The Filipino people have been waging an uninterrupted battle against U.S. imperialism and its puppets for well over a hundred years, and have ousted several U.S.-backed regimes since the artificial granting of “independence” from the U.S. in 1946. Today, the U.S. has 6,000 troops stationed in the Philippines, more than double the amount it has left in Iraq, despite the 1991 decision by the Philippine Senate to reject the renewal of a treaty allowing US military bases on Philippine soil. Facilitated by the ongoing presence of the U.S. military, American soldiers continue to commit violence against and exploit the Filipino people with impunity, evidenced by innumerable cases of murder and rape. It is clear that the U.S. will go to great lengths to protect and maintain its political and economic interests in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, and even clearer is the necessity of international solidarity with those struggling against it. The revolution in the Philippines represents one of the most advanced and developed revolutions against reaction and imperialism in the world today, and is one that demands our unwavering support.

In January of 2016, members of New York City Students for Justice in Palestine travelled to the Philippines with Anakbayan-NY, a revolutionary filipino youth and students organization. The trip provided SJP members with the opportunity to witness firsthand the concrete conditions of the National Democratic movement, and to highlight the importance of international solidarity, from New York to Palestine to the Philippines. NYC SJP received a warm welcome from revolutionary workers, students, professors, indigenous activists and people in general who reiterated their undying commitment to the liberation of Palestine and oppressed peoples within the United States. In addition to us learning from the experiences of the movement there, the Philippines-Palestine Friendship Association (PPFA), formed during the International League of Peoples Struggle conference in November 2015, extended their solidarity to us by meeting to coordinate campaigns and actions in support of the Palestinian struggle in the Philippines.

Often, surplus military equipment that the Israeli Defense Forces do not need is sold off to the Armed Forces of the Philippines to be turned on the Filipino, Moro, and indigenous people of the Philippine Islands. Although the geography changes, when these weapons are transferred, the basic nature remains the same: a U.S. funded weapon stays trained on an oppressed nation.Since these two nations are bound together by the yoke of U.S. imperialism, internationalism is not only our duty as revolutionaries, it is a necessity to strain and weaken the ability of the empire to exert its hegemony over the oppressed nations.

We salute the fellow revolutionary youth of Anakbayan-USA in their continued struggle for genuine democracy in the Philippines, and wish them unprecedented success in their current upsurge movement. On Philippines Solidarity Week and beyond we hope to build an ever growing relationship of concrete camaraderie in the struggle.

Grief and rage. Like thousands of others, these emotions consumed me after the Lianga Massacre of Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development (ALCADEV) Executive Director Emerito “Sir Emuk” Samarca, Malahutayong Pakigbisog Alang sa Sumusunod (MAPASU) Chairperson Dionel “Onel” Campos and Kiwagan Lumad leader Datu Juvello “Datu Bello” Sinzo on September 1, 2015. After learning, laughing and living with Sir Emuk and Onel during an exposure trip to the Caraga region in Mindanao in November 2014, I was trying to think of how I could return to the region in the wake of the September 1st massacre. And then I met Doc Naty after her moving and agitating keynote presentation during Commission 3 on the defense of human rights during the 5th International Assembly of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle. She offered the opportunity to visit the evacuation center in the Sports Center in Tandag City, which is where hundreds of families from communities under threat arrived on September 1st.

Onel Campos sharing stories with the GABRIELA New York exposurists, November 2014

Sir Emuk and Jennine, November 2014

Makigbisog. Just a year ago, I met Sir Emuk. Our expo team arrived in Han-ayan in Lianga, where the September 1st massacre took place. The community had just returned from an evacuation after the extrajudicial killing of Henry Alameda, a MAPASU Council Member. The ALCADEV teachers were our guides, translators and companions. Sir Emuk handled our itinerary and was with us every day and at every meal. I celebrated my birthday in Han-ayan, and when I thought no one knew, Sir Emuk saw there was Royal Tru-orange during lunch and remarked, “Wow, Royal! It must be someone’s birthday…” Sir Gary, Mam Aivy, Sir Jhon-jhon, Mam Amor, Mam Mai-mai, Sir Lito, Mam Lillian, Sir Ryan, Sir Rey, and others later threw me the best birthday party ever. They also taught us so much about what national democracy looks like. And a year later, in November 2015, I arrived at the evacuation site in the Sports Center in Tandag City, known as the Oval because it is a circular outdoor track, to learn what imperialism really looks like: displacement, injustice, terror, poverty, impunity, hunger, violations, abuses, illnesses, deaths.

It was sobering to reunite with the ALCADEV teachers in the aftermath of the September 1st killings. While watching the children play in the evacuation center, I had to constantly remind myself of the atrocities they witnessed that forced them out of their homes. Sir Jhon-jhon told me how he vomited after Onel and Datu Bello were killed in front of the entire community, and how he had to immediately recover to ensure the safety of the children. He was also the first to find Sir Emuk after he was killed and he said he bellowed like an animal upon seeing his lifeless, mutilated body. In the Oval, all of the indigenous school teachers like Sir Jhon-jhon are continuing their primary responsibilities to educate the children because they must learn that imperialism is not a fate to be accepted – it is a system to be smashed.Continue reading →

NJ Philippine Solidarity Committee Newsletter, Issue 1

PHILIPPINE SOLIDARITY WEEK 2016

The Philippine Solidarity Week is a week of events that commemorates the Philippine-American War that raises awareness and support for the continuing struggle of the Filipino People for national liberation. The Philippine-American War began on February 4th 1899 and was one of the first imperialist wars waged by the United States where an estimated 1 million Filipinos perished. Many methods of torture were tested and established the Philippines as a geo-political launching pad in the Asia-Pacific that continues today. Phil Sol Week was launched by BAYAN USA to build solidarity between Filipinos and non-Filipinos abroad to support the struggle for national liberation and true independence in the Philippines.

Statements of Solidarity

Pax Christi New Jersey supports Anakbayan NJ during and its efforts during Philippine Solidarity week. It is time that Americans understand the history of US military aggression against the Filipino people that began with the Fil-Am war and our continued opression with the pivot to Asia and the re-establishment of military bases. We believe that achieving a just, peaceful and sustainable world is achieved through disarmament and demilitarization not threat of force.

Jersey City Peace Movement, (JCPM), a peace, justice and anti-war organization which also does continued outreach and advocacy for the needy and homeless populations in Hudson County, NJ since 2004, supports the peaceful and educational efforts of Anakbayan NJ, BAYAN, and all sincere Filipino activists concerning PHILIPPINE SOLIDARITY WEEK! Solidarity from JCPM!

The Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War expresses our solidarity with the people of the Philippines and their continued struggle against U.S. imperialism. We oppose the U.S. military and economic wars imposed on our brothers and sisters around the world and we support Philippine Solidarity Week.

The Newark Student Action Collective stands in solidarity with our friends in Anakbayan and the Philippines National Democratic Movement. As students at Rutgers University – Newark we recognize that our education was created at the expense of the Newark community. The University Medical School where our students study for the medical field was created by tearing down the homes of thousands and was a large part of what triggered the economic downturn that Newark has seen ever since. Today Rutgers University – Newark is purchasing more and more property in the area that will inevitably lead to gentrification of the surrounding community. The Newark Student Action Collective seeks to bridge the gaps in student and community organizing and hopes to be a part of the solution to these problems. Similarly as American Imperialism ravages the world it’s the responsibility of the students of the most diverse campus in America to stand with the Filipino people as they fight for independence, democracy and socialism.

People’s Organization for Progress sends greetings for Philippine Solidarity Week 2016! This week is a commemoration of the freedom fighters in the Philippine-American War, and a continuation of the struggle for freedom and real democracy in the Philippines. This is a shared struggle against slavery, genocide, racism, and colonialism. That this week coincides with the commemorations of U.S. Black Heritage Month shows the need to acknowledge each other’s struggles around the globe. As the labor movement slogan reminds us: “An injury to one is an injury to all.”

The threat of the Trans Pacific Partnership is a threat to those living and working on all sides of the Pacific: poverty wages, unemployment, human trafficking, slavery conditions, militarism, and unequal trade are the dangers we face, and we should face them together. We share in this long fight: the enslavement of Africans, the genocide against Indigenous peoples, the present-day police brutality against both peoples, the ongoing colonialism of Puerto Rico bankrupted by the U.S., and the neo-colonialism against the Philippines.

We salute the Philippine Solidarity Committee – NJ for keeping this legacy! We remain in struggle together! Long Live International Solidarity! Power to the People!

Last year’s Philippine Solidarity event with Food & Water Watch! This year’s event, “From NJ to the Philippines: Struggle for Climate Justice” will be on Thursday, February 11 in Jersey City.

Film Crafting Collaborative stands in solidarity & empathy with the People of the Philippines. This allegiance, in particular, encompasses and focuses on the emerging Youth Movements that hold the the key (and provide the energy) to change the century-long Philippine colonial debacle. Future prosperity and the breaking-away from foreign interference is in their able hands.

In unison, we denounce Colonialism as a degenerative symptom of Imperialism. These policies, practices and mindset run counter to the pursuit of harmony, goodwill and true development in our world. The present global situation demonstrates clearly that greed and exclusion can only serve to diminish us all. May we coalesce as One toward a Better World. “En la union esta la fuerza!”

Anakbayan NJ members at the ICE FREE NYC action where activists shut down an intersection outside the Varick Street Immigration Court in Manhattan.

The NJ State Industrial Union stands in solidarity with Anakbayan NJ and supports Philippine Solidarity Week. We strongly support self-determination and the end of US imperialism. US militarism has destroyed so many countries around the globe and has especially harmed the people of the Philippines, not to mention the enormous damage done to the environment of your country. We call for an end to US militarism, and for a more humane foreign (as well as domestic) policy that supports human need, not corporate greed. Continue reading →

To announce its official launch, the New Jersey Philippine Solidarity Committee condemns to the utmost extent today’s signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) in New Zealand. As an anti-imperialist coalition of individuals and organizations, the New Jersey Philippine Solidarity Committee opposes the TPP as a one-sided “free trade” agreement that will only benefit the interests of the global elite class at the expense of the poor and working class peoples of the world, especially in underdeveloped countries like the Philippines. Incidentally, the New Jersey Philippine Solidarity Committee also commemorates today as the 117th anniversary of the Philippine American War as part of BAYAN USA’s Philippine Solidarity Week. With the acquisition of the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam, the Philippine American War was the birthplace of US imperialism whose legacy lives on today through US economic and political hegemony. Pushed for by the Obama administration, the TPP is a testament to the relevance of the Philippine American War in today’s world and is a living manifestation of the United States’ continued stranglehold on the economies of the Third World. By launching a series of events for Philippine Solidarity Week, the New Jersey Philippine Solidarity Committee demonstrates the strength in unity across movements in the fight for national and social liberation.

Anticipated to be the largest “free trade” agreement in the world, the TPP encompasses 12 nations that make up 40% of the global GDP. These nations, consisting of the United States and 11 Pacific Rim countries (New Zealand, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam), will formally sign the agreement today but each member state will still need to ratify it for the TPP to go into full force. If two years elapse and not all member states have ratified the agreement, the TPP can still go into force if at least six countries have successfully ratified and represent 85 percent of the total GDP of the original member states between them. This means that the TPP is effectively dead if the United States does not sign on, making it more urgent that US-based communities and organizations come together to strategize and organize against the approval of the agreement domestically.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is an egregious corporate power grab. While it’s being promoted by corporate and political elites under the guise of “free-trade,” in reality, only 5 of the 29 chapters included in the agreement have anything to do with trade. The majority of the agreement seeks to undermine national economic sovereignty through trans-national corporate governance, putting profits before the rights and needs of the 99%. The TPP affirms and expands existing agreements made through international bodies such as the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund that promote the extraction and exploitation of developing economies through forced financial and economic dependency. One of the most devastating components of the TPP is the Investor State Dispute Settlement. Any law or regulation that stands in the way of a company’s profits such as health safety laws; workers rights; women’s rights; food safety; gay rights; animal rights; minimum wages; unions; civil rights; nuclear power plant regulations; environmental protections; etc., can be “challenged” in this non-democratically elected international court. Corporations and big business will be able to sue entire countries through a corporate tribunal if the TPP is passed.

Moreover, the TPP is the economic centerpiece of the so-called “U.S. Pivot to Asia,” a term that refers to a deliberate foreign policy strategy of consolidating and ensuring US hegemony in the Asia Pacific region. The second part of the “pivot” is militarization, which is used to secure US control over trade routes, markets, and territories. Having a very strategic location in the Asia-Pacific with easy access to China and surrounding countries, the Philippines is used to deepen U.S. aggression in the Asia Pacific region through the indefinite basing of U.S. soldiers, many of whom are being deployed to the Philippines from the Middle East. The recent unconstitutional upholding of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) by the Philippine Supreme Court will further entrench the U.S. military in the country and pave the road to more bases. The TPP, as well as the shift of military troops to Asia Pacific, is an intensification of an ongoing trend of trade liberalization and imperialism.

The Philippines is already one of the most liberalized economies in Asia and one of the closest allies of the U.S. government in advancing its interests. In recent months, the United States and the Philippines have publicly supported the Philippines’ potential membership in the TPP. Given these developments, the New Jersey Philippine Solidarity recognizes the urgency of intensifying domestic efforts against the TPP to stand in solidarity with the struggling masses in the Philippines and the Asia Pacific region who will be most affected by the agreement.

By commemorating the Philippine American War through the coordination of Philippine Solidarity week, the New Jersey Philippine Solidarity Committee honors the People’s movements that have been raging for centuries against colonial intervention and, up to this day, are still fighting threats to national sovereignty like the TPP. During the Philippine American War, the United States murdered over 1.5 million Filipinos and used the country as a laboratory to develop war tactics, torture methods, occupation, and counterinsurgency operations that would be employed in future wars of aggression in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. As the birthplace of US imperialism, commemorating the Philippine American War means not only honoring the resistance of the Philippine people but all ongoing struggles of oppressed peoples around the world.

The organizations within the New Jersey Philippine Solidarity Committee that led the planning of the Philippine Solidarity Week are Anakbayan NJ, People’s Organization for Progress, Food & Water Watch, Newark Student Action Collective, and New Jersey United Students. If you are interested in joining the Committee and building with a group of anti-imperialist freedom fighters, please email njphilsolidarity@gmail.com!

The Philippine American War began February 4, 1899 and continues to this day despite U.S. granted nominal independence on July 4, 1946. The United States killed more than 1 million Filipinos, and U.S. troops remain an everyday presence in the Philippines. As a way to advance our US Out of the Philippines campaign, propagate the National Democratic movement, and build anti-imperialist solidarity between activist organizations, BAYAN USA will take collective action between February 4th–11th.

During this time, several organizations under BAYAN USA will be holding events and activities with our allies. There are a number of ways individuals and organizations can participate:

1) Call for Endorsement
We are calling on all progressive organizations, peace and anti-war activists to launch solidarity actions in support of the continuing struggle of the Filipino people and all oppressed peoples for genuine independence from US imperialism.

As organizations against militarism, war, and imperialism we ask that you join us in solidarity, and we kindly request a brief solidarity statement on behalf of your organization endorsing Philippine Solidarity Week. These collected statements will then be published on our website, and should be sent to bayanusa.ne@gmail.com

2) 2016 Photo Campaign
Take a photo and post on facebook/instagram/twitter/etc. with one of the attached signs saying:

Advance the National Democratic Movement of the Philippines!
I stand in solidarity with the National Democratic Movement of the Philippines
OR CREATE YOUR OWN MESSAGE WITH A BLANK SIGN!
Tag with #PhilSolidarity or email to bayanusa.ne@gmail.com and upload between Feb 1 – 11

3) Attend Events
All of the activities during this week can be found below. Feel free to attend and share the events with your respective network. Check back often as our calendar will be constantly updated!

"More than a century ago, the Philippine American War began the US occupation of the Philippines. Although ostensibly the Philippines are an independent nation, the American military presence continues to this day, undermining the interests and sovereignty of the Filipino people. As part of the Korean diaspora, I am familiar with the human violence, economic exploitation, and environmental damage that the US military causes abroad. The Filipino and Korean people are all too familiar with the toll of American occupation, which has caused more suffering than it has prevented in their countries. I commend BAYAN USA for ten years of tireless organizing in the US, of continuing the fight for true Filipino sovereignty and the complete exit of the American military from the Philippines". — Abe Ahn, Member of SOOBAK

The International Action Center sends comradely congratulations to help honor the proud and historic role played by BAYAN-USA on its 10th Anniversary. Revolutionaries, anti-imperialists, anti-capitalists and all fighting for social justice in the direction of progress, empowerment and the self determination of working and poor people’s the world over are nothing if not inspired by the courageous, principled and, at the same time, warm, inclusive and unifying character of BAYAN-USA and its member organizations. In your work to liberate the Philippines from especially U.S. imperialism, from within the belly of the beast, you have also skillfully weaved and helped progress the struggles of working and poor people in the U.S., including the fight against racism and sexism, police brutality, wage theft and the denial of worker’s rights, human trafficking, LGBTQ oppression and many more. We thank you for being an indispensable ally in the fight against U.S. imperialism worldwide.